While we visiting relatives for the holidays my 2 Yorkies had the unfortunate experience of being attacked by another dog. (my girls weigh about 5 1/2 lbs )
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| Lily at the ER |
We were in the driveway going back into the house after having the dogs out for a potty break. I looked up and a dog was racing across the street and before I knew it she lunged at Lily and latched onto her face. At first I thought it was a pit bull. She would not let her go. I had both the dogs on a leash and so I tried to yank the leash up into the air. As I did so Lily came up into the air with the other dog (which turned out to be a Jack Russell Terrier) came up with her. My dog came out of her harness and hit the ground. The JR continued to growl and had Lily on her back. Somehow she got free and I picked her up. Immediately the JR latched onto Lola and started biting her. I could hear Lola yelping in pain. About this time, the owners children were on the scene and managed to pull their dog away
It all happened so quickly. I gathered up Lily and Lola and rushed inside. I actually thought they both were seriously injured. As it turned out, Lily held her own and had no bites but Lola was bleeding from her side. I called the vet and was told to take her to emergency.
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| Berkeley ER Clinic |
After quite a long wait we were seen by the doctor. He said he needed to open the wound to make sure that it did not start to heal from the outside in. This would hopefully prevent any infection as we waited for the antibiotics to take effect. We left her in the ER where they sedated her and went back to pick her up after about 90 minutes. We were sent home with Amoxicillin and instructions to compress the wound 3X a day and follow up with an appointment in about 3 days with our regular vet. Lola has to wear the neck collar to keep her from licking the wound. The cost of the visit was $267. We will incur the regular vet visit fee when we go back in a couple of days.
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| Lola's wounds |
I called the owner on the phone, who said he was not home at the time and that his grandchildren had been watching the dog (who he described as very "friendly". I did a little research on the Jack Russell.
Here's what I found out:
The diminutive jack russell terrier has made the top 10 most likely dog breeds to attack people - being responsible for more aggressive incidents than pitbull terriers and bull mastiffs.
JR Terriers have a natural hunting instinct that can bring out aggression towards other small animals (like cats, gerbils, guinea pigs, etc) and even other JR terriers. JR's should never be permitted to roam unattended because they are, above all, hunting dogs.
But the Jack Russell, which barely reaches knee-height to most adults, also emerged as one of the breeds most likely to attack.
Jack Russells came seventh on the list with 41 recorded attacks, well ahead of larger, more fearsome breeds like the bull mastiff (12th) and the pitbull terrier (16th).
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| Lola |
Now I am researching how to defend myself and my dogs against any possible future attacks. I'll report back here with my findings.
I'm Just Sayin
2 comments:
What a nightmare! Jack Russell are notorious for being territorial and will attack for no reason. They also are tenacious and will not let go once they have something they've "won". That's great if you have them for mousers...but they can be difficult to live next door to. I am glad the dog didn't decide to go after you! I am glad that the girls are OK. I think they both won;t want to visit any time soon. Sending hugs
It's interesting because I considered getting a Jack Russell when I was researching dogs. I didn't get one when I read that they don't make good apartment dogs. That was pretty much where my research ended. I don't think this owner researched at all. Maybe someone gave him the dog or something. He says the dog is very sweet and friendly. So...why did it race across the street and immediately attack not one but BOTH of my dogs. Holding them in a death grip??? I think the dogs has probably shown signs of aggression before.
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